COVID-19 LATEST POLICY UP-DATE 17TH MARCH 2020

Advice to employees on how to stay safe during 2020 Coronavirus outbreak (issued 17th March 2020)

The latest Government advice was issued on 16th March, and based on this Coolair remain open for business as usual.

We have up-dated our advice to employees based on the new Government announcement, and new instructions are highlighted below. Please take the time to read these and familiarise yourselves with the new situation.

As you know, the situation around COVID-19 is changing rapidly. This guidance will be up-dated regularly based on Government and NHS advice.

Coolair have two main priorities at the moment :

  1. The health and safety of all our employees, and the people we all come in to contact with on a daily basis
  2. Making sure that we can continue to trade as normally as circumstances allow

In order to limit contact and prevent the spread of infection as much as possible we would ask that our employees now take the following actions:

All staff

  • If you live alone and have a high temperature or a new continuous cough you should notify your office immediately and self- isolate for 7 days.
  • If you live in a household with others and have a high temperature or a new continuous cough, you should notify your office immediately and both yourself and everyone in your household should stay self-isolated together for 14 days.

          You should notify either:

          Mark Garstang        Maidstone office

Kerry Welsh             Manchester office

Karen Dean             Cannock office

Mark Cooper           Aftersales

Helen Sharratt        Accounts

The above will then notify Zoe Smith (Payroll and HR Manager)

  • Please let Zoe Smith or Helen Sharratt at Head Office know immediately if:
    • You have any specific health conditions which may make you more vulnerable to the COVID-19 infection (all information will be treated in the strictest confidence)
    • you are returning from travelling to a high-risk area.
  • Everyone should stop all unnecessary contact with others and all unnecessary travel.
  • Let management know IMMEDIATELY of any site closures, so that we have the information we need to be able to plan workload and labour over the coming weeks as best we can
  • Please be responsible and stay away from all large gatherings (sporting events, concerts etc) wherever possible
  • Please raise any issues / complications you are finding in trying to do your work in these difficult circumstances with your line manager as soon as possible so that we can try, where possible, to take appropriate measures
  • Continue to follow best hygiene practise which can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/. One of the simplest measures we can all take is to keep washing our hands.
  • Don’t call the NHS111 helpline if you have mild or moderate illness, instead seek help online. But do call if your illness becomes more severe.
  • STAY HEALTHY – below you’ll see some simple steps we can all take to stay healthy and stay positive

Office-based employees

  • Limit face-to-face meetings with suppliers / customers to essential visits only. Many meetings can be done by phone, Facetime, Skype etc
  • Where your job allows you to work from home, please check that you have the equipment to do this and that your Forticlient / VPN connection is working. Speak to Helen Sharratt if in doubt. We are not yet advising home working, but this situation may change. Please use your common sense.

Site-based staff

  • Continue to follow the rules, advice and best-practice issued on each specific site you attend. Health and safety is a priority for all our customers and site conditions will be monitored to ensure they are kept as safe to work on as possible.
  • Deliveries in to the Manchester warehouse are now being restricted.

Tips to stay healthy

What can we all do to keep our immune systems running normally, to help us fight off COVID-19?

  • Keep taking regular exercise
    • Even gentle exercise such as walking can boost the immune system
  • Eat healthily
  • Vitamin D supplements are known to help protect against respiratory infections
  • Vitamin C supplements are known to shorten the length of the common cold
  • KEEP CALM! Stress raises cortisol levels in the blood which in turn suppresses the immune system.

ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER SO LET’S WORK TOGETHER, STAY POSITIVE AND HELP EACH OTHER THROUGH IT.